Fertility and age

Age affects fertility, including the number and quality of eggs. It also matters for sperm: CDC guidance reports more difficulty conceiving in couples where the male partner is 40 or older. It’s worth discussing age for everyone contributing eggs or sperm.

You may be deciding when to try or already wondering why pregnancy hasn’t happened. Start with the question you need answered now. You can talk through your options before deciding what you want.

What changes as eggs age

Declining egg quality is a main reason fertility falls with age. There are also fewer eggs remaining, and health conditions that affect fertility become more likely. Increasing age is associated with a higher chance of miscarriage and of a baby having a genetic condition.

These findings describe patterns across groups of women. They cannot tell you what will happen in a particular pregnancy. Ask a clinician to discuss your age alongside your medical history and the way you hope to conceive; CDC advice bases assessment and treatment on individual circumstances.

Read the number with its label

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) states that by age 40, a woman’s chance of getting pregnant is less than 10 percent per menstrual cycle. That figure estimates the chance of pregnancy in a cycle across a group. It cannot predict your own chances, and it does not describe the chance of a live birth.

When a clinic shows you a percentage, ask what is being counted. Is it a pregnancy or a baby born? Is the figure per treatment cycle or per person? Does it describe people using their own eggs or donor eggs? Keep those questions beside the number rather than comparing figures with different labels.

A test does not remove all that uncertainty. The CDC lists anti-Müllerian hormone, or AMH, among markers of ovarian function, while stating that no single test perfectly predicts fertility. Ask what a proposed test can answer in your situation and how the result would change care.

Age affects sperm too

Age-related concerns are not limited to the person supplying eggs. The CDC’s finding about male partners aged 40 or older is another reason to include both partners’ histories in an assessment. Clinicians take a thorough medical and sexual history from both partners as part of that assessment.

Bring questions about sperm health into the same appointment rather than leaving them for later. You can ask who will arrange any checks and how the findings will be discussed together.

Egg freezing preserves an option

Egg freezing involves collecting eggs, freezing them and thawing them later for fertility treatment. The UK’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) explains that freezing at a younger age aims to preserve eggs when their quality is higher. Freezing eggs does not guarantee having a baby.

Ask a clinic for its recent results for people your age. The HFEA cautions that egg-freezing technology has changed, so older outcome data cannot simply be compared with current results. Ask for a fully costed treatment plan, as the HFEA advises. Storage and later use have costs as well as collection.

Arrange a conversation about timing

Book a GP appointment in the UK, or see your doctor in the US or elsewhere, to discuss age and your plans. The NHS general infertility page says to seek help sooner at 36 or over. Its low-sperm-count page gives 6 months when the partner trying to conceive is 36 or over.

US CDC guidance recommends assessment after 6 months when the woman is 35 years or older, and considering more immediate assessment over 40. Known fertility concerns are reasons to ask earlier. Ask your clinician which timing applies to you and what the next step would be.